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Boulder's Caffeine Fix MapLet's face it, Boulderites need their caffeine fix. Here's a map for local and visitors alike to discover some of the city's (and surrounding town's) best places to find a good cup of java.

March 2007

March 27, 2007

Answering the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less is the very simple business model about one of the newest social networking sites on the Web, Twitter.com.

It’s called twittering, and founder Evan Williams said the site was created “more of less on a whim.” Now, with the site getting rants and raves from bloggers around the world and user updates reaching 900,000 so far in March, Williams told attendees at a Boulder conference on Weblogs and Social Media that it’s “taking over our lives.”

Williams, also a founder of ODEO.com and before that, co-founder of Blogger.com, drew laughs showing some of the Twitter posts, including one of his own recently — “I just wrecked my car. I’m fine.” Another example: “Internet. I’m in labor.”

His audience at the Boulder Marriott, most surfing wirelessly on their laptops and one posting to the live demonstration of Twitter, seemed enthralled with yet another way to communicate to friends instantly.

Twitter, Williams explained, has been called everything from “blogging on crack” to “dodgeball but boring.” He liked one blogger’s description of “ambient intimacy.” For a site that’s only nine months old and still trying to figure out what it will be, Williams described it as simply a “blogging tool.”

Already new applications are springing up, including Twitterific, a small desktop app for Macs, and Twittervision, which maps the location of anyone posting to Twitter. Another site, Twitterholic.com, lists the top 100 “Twits” ranked by their following of friends.

Williams is No. 5 on the list with 1,500 people — something he says he’s not really encouraging because he doesn’t want to see Twitter become another popularity contest.

March 22, 2007

Six new inductees will join the Boulder County Business Hall of Fame at the 15th annual induction luncheon Thursday, May 3, at the Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Longmont.

I've had the pleasure of being part of the Hall of Fame since its inception in 1992, and my newspaper Boulder County Business Report is the founding media sponsor.

The induction lunch is always a great event, but this year the Hall of Fame has moved to a new home at the Radisson Conference Center where visitors can view the plaques describing the Hall of Fame members. The Radisson staff is always friendly, and the Business Report has held some of our events there as well.

The story on all these inductees is much longer than I will post here, especially including all of their community and business involvement, which is a leading factor in the criteria for being chosen into the Hall of Fame. You can hear much more about their achievements by attending the luncheon.

Tickets for the Hall of Fame luncheon are $50 and reservations can be made by calling Wendy Kling at 303-776-4496. Or email me at jwlewis@bcbr.com, and I can give you any information you need.

This year's inductees are:

Thomas Eldrige: Owner and operator of Tom's Tavern, a downtown Pearl Street institution since 1959. Best cheeseburgers hands down in Boulder. Eldridge has served on city council and has been very active in downtown business groups.

Daniel A. Pirrallo and Harvest House Hotel: The Harvest House Hotel helped create the Hall of Fame, and its most recent manager, Pirrallo, helped grow the organization and really bring it into its prime. He probably should get in the Hall of Fame for bringing back the hotel's FAC summer parties, but that's not the real reason.

Richard W. Klein: Klein purchased and owned the Fox Theater in downtown Longmont, and his business grew to 10 movie screens, a drive-in theater and employer of 150 people. He helped facilitate the Longmont Theatre Company.

Bayne Gibson: Bayne is known as "Colorado's Turnaround Man," leading companies such as Bradford Robinson, Vactec Systems and Staodyn, which brought him to Longmont.

G. Lane Earnest: Earnest co-founded Caplan and Earnest LLC, Boulder County's oldest and largest locally owned and managed law firm. I learned recently that "Earnie," as everyone knows him in Boulder, is now serving as a Protestant chaplain on cruise ships since he retired.

John Edward Mock: Mock formed Mock Realty in 1965, and was one of the first Realtors in Boulder to actively recruit female real estate agents. His story also includes helping to break the "color" barrier in Boulder County neighborhoods.

March 10, 2007

The Colorado Press Association has recognized the seven bloggers at ColoradoConfidential.com as the "first journalists solely dedicated to blogging" to be credentialed through the CPA. I'm not quite sure what "credentialed" means --maybe they can get a press ID -- but it's a safe bet to say it does not mean a Web site can be a full member of the state press group.

That's because free newspapers and anything other than a daily or weekly, such as a bi-weekly, monthly or certainly a blogging Web site -- you know those journalists that beat the pants off the bigger dailies with great scoops regularly -- are not allowed to be full members of CPA. Neither are bi-weeklies or monthlies. My own newspaper, the Boulder County Business Report, which celebrates 25 years this year of breaking regular business stories the dailies miss entirely, is a bi-weekly and only allowed into CPA as an "associate" member, with PR companies and other lost souls.

The reason for this is quite simple. It's called protecting your ass, I mean territory, namely legal advertising that weeklies take in and often live on.

If by some chance, the CPA were to recognize free newspapers, such as the Aspen Daily News, probably the leading souce of news in the mountain ski town, then it's just possible someone could persuade a legislator to change Colorado law that dictates where legal advertising should run.

To be a regular CPA member, a newspaper must be "Legal publications have been published for at least 52 weeks consecutively and have a second-class periodical mailing permit from tbe post office." So I am presuming that would certainly leave out any blogging Web site.

The possibility of legal ads being publishing online, in just about any media's Web site, has frightened CPA members for years. It is one of the primary jobs of CPA lobbyist to make sure this state law does not change.

Many of us have complained about this narrow-mindedness of the CPA for years, and it's been the subject of several rifts and membership fights over the years. But with the board, of course, controlled by the "legal" newspapers -- not outlaw free newspapers and others -- it's been a losing battle.

What would happen if ColoradoConfidential.com were to ask for membership in the CPA? I'm afraid the bloggers will be over in the corner with us "associate" types -- with no vote on anything the organization does.